Chiropractic Treatment Effective for Back Pain

We see several back pain patients in our North County St. Louis, MO office, and Dr. Holland has been able to help a lot of them obtain relief with chiropractic care. However, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many people use both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with Each Other

In a report published by the journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute discomfort and limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the test subjects engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic treatment in addition to regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

The authors discovered that the group that got standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits compared to just 17% of the medical care only group who indicated the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at two and four weeks.

Thus, integrating these two forms of treatment can greatly benefit you, the patient, offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medicine can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research from UCLA² that was printed in the American Journal of Public Health found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than those undergoing medical treatment.

According to the experts, the main aspects that patients liked over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, as chiropractors typically spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those available with medical therapy, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and well-being. In contrast to focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means finding the root cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative responses to medications and lasting recovery.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health problems. Give our North County St. Louis, MO clinic a call today at (314) 867-8888. We'll do our best to help you get and remain free from back pain.

References

1. Goertz CM, Long CR, Hondras MA, Petri R, Delgado R, Lawrence DJ, Owens EF, Meeker WC. Adding chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute low back pain: results of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness study. Spine 2013;38(8):627-634.
2. Hertzman-Miller RP1, Morgenstern H, Hurwitz EL, Yu F, Adams AH, Harber P, Kominski GF. Comparing the satisfaction of low back pain patients randomized to receive medical or chiropractic care: results from the UCLA low-back pain study. American Journal of Public Health 2002;92(10):1628-1633.